[Gixxer06]

Is anyone taking lamictal alone as maintenance for BP. If not what are common cocktails for bp. Also on the side note does anyone have trouble absorbing and recalling information. I'm a student and finding lecture's and reading very difficult and having trouble learning things. Is there any treatment for that?

[ilanagrey]

I'm on lamictal and my short term memory/recall SUCKS. I don't know if the two are connected. It's a real problem and makes working difficult though.

[Lab_Rat]

I used to be really sharp and had a great memory. Since I've been on Lamictil my memory is shot. I have to constantly make lists and still forget stuff at work which makes me feel stupid. But as a mood stabilizer I guess that's the trade off.


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[middlepath]

I have a crappy memory. It annoys me, but I am trying to make piece with it and just accept that that is how my brain operates now. I have not found successful treatment for it but I have heard of people here who do some cool things for memory by playing cognitive games. Not sure what that entails, but maybe they will chime in : )

[Victoria'smom]

For the lecture record them to take notes later and just listen to the lecture while there. Get to know your professor's and hand in your work at their office, their more accepting of when you have issues if they know you and you ask for help or ask questions in their office. See if your school has a TRIO program, if it's a state school it does. As far as ways to improve your memory lumosity type programs can help. Accept because you are medicated your brain won't be the same, that's kind of the point and this is just a side effect of that, Sorry.

[Victoria'smom]

As far as common combo's there as indivigual as each of us are. I was put on lamictal only until I tiered up to a proper dose then an anti-depressant.

I'd talk to my psychiatrist about the memory thing. If you're in college, you can hardly
afford not to have a good memory. Your doctor may permit you to lower the dosage
to give you a better memory capacity if you can function well on a lower dose.

Take care.

I'm on lamictal mostly alone. She wants me to add an anti-psychotic on top of it, did try seroquel for a bit but the side effects were too much for me. I am being pretty stubborn about doing anything in addition to the lamictal right now, until it gets therapeutic. Haven't noticed any major side effects with just lamictal but we'll see what happens when the dose goes up.

[A Red Panda]

I'm new to lamictal, but it's all I'm on. It's all I'm going to be on willingly too.

I have a crap short-term memory as is if I have too much on my plate. So I have no idea if I'll notice that effect on me at all.

[Last Laugh]

I am only on Lamictal (and birth control pill, which interacts!!) but I have to watch out or I get depressed. By "watch out" I mean I lower the dose. I find if I am stressed out, I will need more, then as the stress settles down, I have to cut back. Does anyone else do this?

[Nessa213]

Originally Posted by Last Laugh

I am only on Lamictal (and birth control pill, which interacts!!) but I have to watch out or I get depressed. By "watch out" I mean I lower the dose. I find if I am stressed out, I will need more, then as the stress settles down, I have to cut back. Does anyone else do this?

Can you explain what you mean by the Lamictal interacting with birth control? (I'm also on both.)

I personally don't raise or lower the dose on my own. I had been initially told that it takes so long for Lamictal to affect your blood levels that it wouldn't do much if I temporarily raised or lowered the dose. But I'm also fully willing to admit that my psychdoc told me this so I didn't go messing with the dosage and I was heavily depressed at the time I started it.

[Last Laugh]

Google it: Birth control pills make lamictal less effective (by about half!). So on the sugar pill week, your lamictal will feel/act like you took double.

As for messing with dosages... could it just be in my head??? Maybe, but it feels like it helps (seems to take two or three days to feel a difference). And feels good to have some control over the moods. I don't know, maybe they will try to add an antidepressant too. Just prefer fewer meds if possible.

Would love feedback!

[Last Laugh]

Sorry, not trying to sound snippy by saying "Google it"!

Hi! I did take Lamictal alone for a while, but it didn't stabilize me enough so they added an AP (Zyprexa). That combination was highly effective for me, but the side-effects from Zyprexa were bad. I'm hoping Lamictal will have clearer effects this time (titrating up now). I'm not going higher than half the previous dose of Zyprexa this time, because the side-effects are just too bad.

[Nessa213]

Originally Posted by Last Laugh

Google it: Birth control pills make lamictal less effective (by about half!). So on the sugar pill week, your lamictal will feel/act like you took double.

As for messing with dosages... could it just be in my head??? Maybe, but it feels like it helps (seems to take two or three days to feel a difference). And feels good to have some control over the moods. I don't know, maybe they will try to add an antidepressant too. Just prefer fewer meds if possible.

Would love feedback!

Now that you mention it, I think I HAVE heard of this. (heh... guess I forgot about it... that's happening a lot lately)

If it takes a few days to feel any different then it might not actually be in your head. At the same time, you could have just been naturally coming out of the cycle anyway. It's always SO hard to tell it's almost infuriating. How much to do you increase/decrease the dose? What's your standard dosage?

[A Red Panda]

As long as it doesn't affect the birth control aspect of the birth control pill.... then.... it's all good to me.

[BipolaRNurse]

I don't know too many people with our condition who can make it on Lamictal alone. Most of us have to take more than one drug, and some of us even have to take antipsychotics every day just to maintain a modicum of control. But there are some who can manage on one medication, and others who can do it without any meds at all. YMMV.